Your place to share stories on and off the bus.
Courtesy Washington Post/Matt Yu/Reuters
It seems sex and controversy — well, duh — are very effective for selling transit cards.
Earlier this month, according to an Associated Press article, Taiwan’s EasyCard Corp. quickly sold out a special edition swipe card featuring photos of Japanese porn star Yui Hatano. Hatano is said to be a big fan of Taiwan and the images on the cards are of her clothed. Nonetheless, the company sold out of its stock of 15,000 cards within about four hours on Sept. 1.
As expected, not everyone was happy with the EasyCard’s celebrity selection. According to the article, parents, politicians, and women’s groups were among those outraged and said using Hatano’s photo was disrespectful to women. Many stores refused to sell them.
Anything to get people out of their cars, I guess?? It does beg the question though: Whose face (or body) would you like to see on your Clipper Card?
We already knew that failed Muni competitor Leap was auctioning some of its buses. Now comes news that Leap filed for bankruptcy last summer. The Examiner has the story:
In bankruptcy court filings dated July 15, Leap Transit filed under Chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.
The now-defunct company’s assets and liabilities were both estimated to be between $100,000 and $500,000, according to bankruptcy filings signed by Leap founder Kyle Kirchoff.
And so, once again, a shiny, distressed-wood-having, ADA-challenged bus can be yours. That’s right, more Leap buses are up for auction. It’s unclear whether any bids are in yet, and the opening bid is listed at $5 (cheaper than a single ride on a Leap bus, back in “the day”!).
We had a hunch things wouldn’t go well for them when, on Leap’s second day in operation, it, uh, needed a tow truck. Ouch!
Read the whole story on SF Examiner.
Photo by Yarbs
Funny things happen on the way from point A to B, and we’re back to amplify the party talk at another Muni Diaries Live! Pen us in your calendar for a night of live storytelling on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m. at the Elbo Room.
For this upcoming show, you’ll hear true, hilarious Muni tales from storytellers Cara Tramontano, Jerry Lee Abram, and Kristee Ono, with a haiku faceoff between Baruch Porras-Hernandez and reigning champion Ronn Vigh. We can’t wait to hear more insider stories and wisdom from Muni Driver Doug as well as musical guest Satellite High, whose entire album is Muni-themed. How much more San Francisco cred can you get on one stage?
If you’ve never been to one of our shows before, check out the recap of past shows to get a flavor of Muni Diaries Live.
Details:
Muni Diaries Live
Sat., Oct 10, doors: 6pm, show: 7 p.m. Tickets: $16.
Elbo Room
647 Valencia Street, San Francisco
Take Muni there: J-Church, 12, 14, 22, 33, 49, or BART: 16th or 24th St stations
Photo by Kevin Wong
Not content with the ever-progressing Central Subway, Castro Supervisor Scott Wiener wrote recently about the need for more tunnels under the surface of our fair city.
San Francisco has a lackluster history of subway construction. BART was built forty years ago as a regional transportation carrier and bored a tunnel along a short section of Market Street, from the Embarcadero to Civic Center, and then extending south through the Mission to Daly City. Muni’s Metro tunnel, which serves as Muni’s only subway line, runs up Market Street and through Twin Peaks to West Portal. That’s it. One Muni subway line in forty years. Neither San Francisco’s west side, north side, nor southeast has subway service, instead relying on slow and traffic-obstructed service by bus or above-ground light rail.
Sing it.
Writing on Medium.com, Wiener goes on to add his voice to support a second Transbay Tube, as well as a subway that connects SF’s western neighborhoods to downtown and one that stretches to the southeastern part of the city.
The whole article, San Francisco Should Always Have a Subway Under Construction, is worth your time.
What do you think? Should we move more transit underground?
Photo by TJ Gehling